Cat only poops when owner is eating

My friend has three cats and one of them has the odd habit of waiting to poop till he sits down to eat. The smell is quite strong so my friend has to clean the litter box first and then return to finishing his meal (which at that point he prefers to skip). It's been like this for years and we couldn't figure out what causes the cat to do this. We were worried he might be unsatisfied with something and the pooping was his way of telling us something wasn't ok, but he seems to be happy overall and gets along well with the other cats. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

I suggest your friend move the litter box far away from the dining table so at least the "smell" won't interrupt his meal. 

Thanks yayi, but the litter box is in his room and that's also where he eats. He has experimented with moving the box around the room or in the adjoining bathroom and the same thing happens. 

To the best of my knowledge you cant teach a cat to poop at a different time. When they've gotta go, they've gotta go!

If the poop is really smelly then the cat might have a food sensitivity or intolerance. Changing the food might help with the smell. Cats on a raw food diet have poop with very little odour. Just a thought.

This happens to my husband and if I remember correctly it happened with our boy cat Pilot (RIP) and our boy Miles as well and he's always dumbounded. I think they only go when HE eats, not when I eat or rather he just notices and I don't.

My cat Sniffles is weird about her litter box habits too. Two of her boxes are in the bathroom and if I'm using my "litter box" then she will happily use hers alongside me. If I'm not in the bathroom she'll stand outside the litter box and cry and wait until I come to watch her. I've had her thoroughly checked out for UTIs/GI issues and she's totally healthy. She's just a weirdo.

Thank you hismuse! Now I know the cat in question isn't the only one with this interesting 'quirk'. Obviously no one wants to stop the cat from pooping when he needs to. We were just wondering what this behavior meant and if it was connected any serious psychological issues. My guess was that perhaps the cat wanted to take part in his owner's dinner and since he isn't allowed on the table he might feel left out, but I guess we'll never know. Thnk you everyone who answered!

Lol CatLadyVetTech that is an interesting thing to do : )) So I suppose it's nothing to worry about.. just part of the cat's personality : )

My cat Miles also I swear is OCD about the litterbox, he goes back in several times afterward to clean up...like it isn't clean enough for him and I think he's even cleaned up after the others sometimes.

@hismuse, my Sniffles will do that too. She'll go in after Guillermo and Ingvild Solveig and make sure their poop is covered up properly. I love my Sniffles dearly but she is definitely an oddball.

My cat tends to do this, sometimes I think he's playing a game with me.  Although he always gets fed at the same exact times, his movements vary and I swear I think he chooses "when" he wants to drop off a load. 

It's usually one of these three times he tends to poo:

A: I've just gotten on my exercise bike (which I do 7 days a week for an hour) and am about to get my workout started.  As it's a small bedroom it's a tight squeeze getting past the bike to get to the tray and clean the poo out.

B: I've just gotten into bed with a midnight snack/some supper and have started eating (he does this to mess with me, I swear it).

C: I've just about fallen asleep after a long bout with insomnia - Sabbath will literally meow and tell me to take away the offending poo.

 I'm one of those owners who vigilantly gets rid of poo immediately, not only because I've heard it's a huge mistake to leave poo there (someone said it's the number one cause of cats peeing and pooing elsewhere in the house) but because Sabbath also demands me to get rid of the poo.  

People never believe me when I tell them Sabbath will literally drag his pooper scoop out from the side of the tray and put it in front of the box (or pull it inside of it), and if that isn't enough to get my attention, he will start emptying my wastepaper basket of garbage and lay it in front of the tray, making as much noise as he can to get me to clean the mess up.

Either way, it's unavoidable to not clean up the mess when he's done his business (even if I'm downstairs he'll cry at teh top of the stairs to get me to come up and clean it up.)

The litter box (a hooded one) is actually in my bedroom which yes, I suppose is a no-no and people will say NEVER have a cat litter tray in a living room or a bedroom but this is a small house, there is neither room in the kitchen nor the bathroom for a tray and the hall isn't accommodating for it (and I was told he's "my" cat, it goes in "my" room).  To be fair, the box has literally NO smell unless there's just been a fresh load of poo dropped off into it (I've had various guests say they'd never know cats lived in my house at all nor that there was a litter box in my bedroom).  Generally his box lasts about 10-14 days before needing the litter changed (depending on drinking habits and pee) as I use Catsan and I scrub it out with a dot of dish soap and hose it out good on EVERY cleaning day.  Room has never smelled like cat pee yet (poo, however, the smell can linger a bit, lol).

That sounds similar to my friend's cat! Thanks for sharing. It seems to be about playing games (determining dominance?) and attention grabbing.

I have a friend whose cat used to wait for her to come home from work on her lunch break and go then.  She lived in an apartment she could see her cat in the window waiting for her to pull up.  Her cat would then go greet her at the door, run back to the bedroom with a meow and then proceed to do her business.  We just figured the CAT didn't want her stinkies sitting around so she waited till my friend was there to clean it right up.    

Wow.. it's so nice to read about all your cats. Each one is unique and sweet in her own way : ) 

I can't believe other cats do this, too! I thought it was just another one of Wheezie's eccentricities. I was so tickled to see this thread! And, of course, Wheezie is the super stinky dump taker of my group. It happens so frequently, there must be some kitty psychological connection between us eating and her pooping. I have no idea what, though.